Exploring the hometown and getting ready to tour the southern states.

Living the retirement lifestyle can be very empowering.  However, retirement also comes with an important obligation.  The obligation of finding our own meaning and a reason to get out of bed in the morning (for some it may be a reason to go to sleep at night).  We believed, before retiring, that we would always be busy. Being home these last 8 weeks has tested this postulate.  We’re in that awkward “in-between” portion of our schedule where we are back at home, with all that is familiar, with one glaring exception.  No work.  The excitement and thrill of the daily adventure we experienced on our first trip has faded in our memory, and it has taken some work to stay involved at home.  And like so many other life situations, we’ve had some mixed successes.  

    A win:     

On an unusually warm and sunny mid-November weekday afternoon, we decided to use the “Charlie Card” and take a ride in on the MBTA into Boston without an itinerary or even a destination.  We were going to explore our hometown city, as if we were discovering an unfamiliar city or town in another state.  As we rode the subway, we decided to explore a section of Boston’s recent urban renewal undertaking called the South Boston waterfront district, which was started in earnest after the completion of the big dig and removal of the overhead central highway (around 2005).  We started at South Station, walking down Summer St, over the Fort Point Channel where we found the Harborwalk.  We followed the Harborwalk trail east towards the harbor and eventually found ourselves out on Pier 4 looking up at the harbor toward Boston.  What a spectacular view!

Peir 4 & Upper Boston Harbor

We walked along and across the entire South Boston waterfront, around Fan Pier, and then back across Seaport Blvd.  We continued to follow the Harborwalk 2 ½ miles until we entered the North End.  That’s when we decided it was time to have a lobster roll at a restaurant on Commercial Pier.  Later, we caught the subway at Haymarket and headed home.  Boston is a very walkable city, and the South Boston waterfront has a lot to offer.

 A loss:     

On a cold and rainy Saturday with nothing planned until dinnertime, we spent the morning staring at our coffee cups looking for something to do.  Eventually settling on a trip to the gas station.  Sometimes cobbling together an activity just bombs. Doesn’t happen that often and when it does, we admit defeat and move on to the next day.  (No one raises their voice exclaiming, “I should never have stopped working!” – Sorry, that just happens in the movies or on TV.)

A key component of a successful RV’ing lifestyle involves consideration and cooperation.  This is no more evident than the decision to travel to parts of the US that are warm, or at the very least way more temperate than a New England winter.  After 12 years of spending the winter slope side getting as much skiing in as possible, this year we are flying south for the winter.  Judy has yearned to spend a winter in a more tempered climate, and in consideration of her enduring the cold NH winters, and with the spirit of cooperation first and foremost in my mind, I have engineered a 16-week camping trip across the southern United States.  Here are the highlights:

• First stop, Charleston, SC.  A food tour and maybe a tour of Sullivans Island are options currently under consideration. 

• On to Brunswick, GA, to Blythe Island Regional Park on the Brunswick River.  This campsite is just upriver from Jekyll Island, GA.

• We head south to St. Augustine Beach, FL and then a week later down to Fort Pierce, FL.  We’re hoping for warm sunny days and at least a couple trips to the beach.

• We drive all the way across Florida for our next stop in Cedar Key, FL on the Gulf of Mexico side of the state.  We are excited for this stop as we will be backed out onto the shoreline on a western facing campsite that should have magnificent view of sunset over the Gulf.

• Continuing to stay on the Gulf of Mexico, we will drive north to a small beach town just south of Panama City called Port St. Joe, FL.

• After all those beaches, and before our minds turned to mush, we figured it was time to learn something about the history of the civil rights movement of the 60’s.  To do this we will head north to Montgomery, AL.  We are planning on visiting the Rosa Parks Library & Museum and the Civil Rights Memorial Center. 

• We turn south again and head toward the Alabama shore with a stop in Gulf Shore, AL, a coastal town that was completely wiped out by Hurricane Sally in September of 2020.

• Last most westerly stop has us staying at an RV park in New Orleans, LA, only 5 miles from the French Quarter.  Never been here before, hopefully we will find a food tour. 

• We start heading back to New England, as we turn the caravan north to the great state of Tennessee.  We have 4 stops scheduled - Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Gatlinburg -which will encompass most of the month of February and into March.  Country music will be the main theme of our stays in Memphis and Nashville, whereas Dollywood, the Great Smoky Mountains, and Cherokee National Forests will be part of the Chattanooga and Gatlinburg stops.

• Hopefully by late March the weather will start warming up as we continue north to Lexington, VA, with another history lesson on the Civil War and maybe a trip to the Stonewall Jackson House. 

• The last stop before returning to Massachusetts is just outside of Hershey PA, a small town called Manheim, PA.  Here again we will try to visit with my brother Paul & sister-in-law, Jennifer.   If this sounds familiar it’s because this was unsuccessfully attempted in a previous trip.

Flying South for the Winter

• There are 18 stops.
• There are more than 120 days on the road.
• There are over 4,150 driving miles.
• We visit 9 states.

We have organized an extensive tour of the southern United States, and we still have so much yet to plan. Tours, excursions, museums, scenic walking & food tours, as well as some spectacular sunsets and an occasional trip to the beach await. So stay with us as we continue our planning, as we tell…the Rest of the Story.

We’re on the move again, busy as ever, as we prepare for our 4-month winter odyssey.

We’re baaack!  Sorry, just couldn’t resist.  I’d first take to take a moment to thank all of you who have taken an interest in reading about our new retirement lifestyle.  “And Now…the Rest of the Story” was merely designed to keep in touch with our friends and family, and it has turned into something so much more.  It has been a while since I last posted upon our return home to basecamp in Massachusetts in the middle of September.  The time off has given me time to regenerate some creativity, and to be honest, when we’re not traveling, ahh, we’re really kind of Boring. (That’s with a capital “B”).

Let’s get caught up:

• The “Beast” is running great.  Our truck has not given us a problem since our last repair in Rochester, Minnesota.  The diesel mechanic reviewed the entire fuel delivery system and noticed an after-market diesel fuel extender which was what was causing our truck problems, and it was removed.  This device was something that the former owner of the truck had installed to increase diesel fuel efficiency and since this apparatus was removed, the “Beast” has been running without issue or concern.

• We have named our RV 5^th wheel trailer, Neil!  As in, “Neil the Northpoint”.  And next year we will have the name stenciled onto the front and side of the RV for all to see.  So, when I refer to Neil, or “Neil the Northpoint”, you, the reader, will know that I’m talking about the camper.

• Finally, I’d like to clarify some of the nomenclature that I kind of use interchangeably in this blog and because I interchange these terms some of my readers are confused about what I’m talking about.  Here are the terms and what they really mean.

 

Campers  =    A very generic term for all types and classes of camping vehicles.  Vans, pull          trailers, and pop-up are all campers.  Also used as a verb, as in going

                        “camping”.  The broadest classification.

 

       RV    =     Recreation Vehicle.  Also, a very generic term, but this refers to a camper that      sits on wheels and can be moved, rather easily, from campsite to campsite.          Many people think of a vehicle that is drivable, but this doesn’t have to be the         case.

 

5^th Wheel  =  Class / Type of recreational vehicle.  This type of camper hooks up to a                  heavy-duty truck, using a special hitch in the truck bed.  Drives a lot like                 commercial tractor-trailer.   

“Neil the Northpoint” is a 5^th wheel class / type of RV.

 Other classes / Types are:

Class A   =   The bigger drivable bus looking RVs with either one or two rear axles.        Engine is in the back of the RV.

Class C   =  Smaller  drivable looking RVs with only a single rear axle and                   resembles a box type truck.  These vehicles will have engines in the         front under the hood.

Pull / Travel Trailer =  Needs to be towed by a vehicle and is mounted to a hitch off the rear         bumper of the tow vehicle.  There is no engine, and they can come in         many different shapes and sizes.

What’s happened since our last post?  

Neil went back to the repair shop to have some warranty issues repaired.  We haul around big & complex living quarters, and we have an ongoing list of warranty-related issues.  Nothing that substantially interferes with our ability to enjoy the camping experience, but stuff we need to get taken care of upon our return.  Once Neil was home from repairs, he got vigorous cleaning inside and out, and we started loading the camper for our next trip which has us “flying south for the winter”.  The camper can survive sub-freezing temperatures when we are actively living inside but will suffer if left unattended without the protective steps of winterizing.  As October turns to November, it becomes too cold to keep a camper in New England, so we loaded up and left just before Halloween, heading south.  This was actually another experiment on how many miles we could roam comfortably in a 7 day period without feeling like the driving was too much to comfortably endure. 

Our first quick stop was outside Philadelphia, PA, a KOA in Clarksboro, NJ.  We were there for only a couple of nights, but we were close enough to Philadelphia to take a walk along the Schuykill River, as well as enjoy an excursion to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Yes, yes we did climb those iconic steps.

Our second stop was at a KOA in Emporia, VA, south of Richmond.  And although we were already 600 miles south of Massachusetts, we were not immune from the cold snap that quickly infiltrated the east coast.  In southern Virginia temperatures dipped into the mid 20’s overnight.  Our propane furnace and electric fireplace were more than up to the heating task, and we weathered the cold without incident.   

While in Emporia, Judy discovered another gem of a museum called the Pamplin Historic Park, which houses the National Museum for the Civil War Soldier.  My gosh, what an education we got about the Civil war, what soldiers went through, and what life was like in the Antebellum (historic or pre-war) South in the mid-19th century. The “Call of Duty” exhibit and the Battlefield Center were especially informative and moving experiences. This park was so wonderful that we returned and paid admission for a second day.   The extra time allowed us time to walk the trails of this 424-acre park; the highlight was the “Breakthrough Trail”, a battlefield walk of a Civil War site exploring the hallowed ground where the decisive April 2, 1865 Breakthrough occurred. The Breakthrough was a decisive battle which pitted over 14,000 Federal troops against scarcely 4,000 well dug-in Confederate troops. The Breakthrough battle eventually led to the surrender of Richmond and ultimately ended the Civil War.  What an eye-opening experience and museum not to be missed.

Catawba River Walk, Rock Hill, SC - Riverwalk Train Tressel

Our last stop was in Fort Mill, South Carolina, where I’m sad to say, we abandoned Neil (So sad, but we will re-join Neil by the first of December).  We left Neil comfortably in an RV park, and flew out of Charlotte, NC back to Massachusetts.  We selected this location for a couple of reasons.  One - the weather is mild, and Neil likes the warmer weather.  Second - easy access to the Charlotte airport. And third - because we were able to visit with Rebecca, a blog reader and a former teacher colleague of Judy’s.  Judy and Rebecca taught together in the earliest days of their careers, some 30 years ago in Harborfields School District on Long Island.  It was especially nice to visit with people after so much time and spend time catching up as we tell… the Rest of the Story.